Franklin D. Roosevelt Won 1936 Election in a Landslide
Polling numbers are fairly accurate in this day and age (though not completely infallible), though this wasn't always the case. Case in point: the 1936 US Presidential election between Franklin D. Roosevelt and Alf Landon, which produced one of the biggest blowouts in US history.
Polling numbers, however, told a much different story heading into the election.
At the time, the "Literary Digest" was considered the gold standard of predicting the outcomes of the Presidential election, as they had correctly predicted five elections in a row.
Their readers would mail in cards with their choice of President, and the Literary Digest would tabulate and release the results.
Heading into the 1936 US Presidential election, the Literary Digest not only claimed that Republican Alf Landon would win the election, but that he would win by a large margin as well.
Gallup polls, however, had FDR winning the election.
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In early October of 1936, Gallup polling had FDR up by seven points (51% to 44%), while the Literary Digest was still calling for Alf Landon to win.
The seven point difference was meaningful but not impossible to overcome. Would Gallup prove to be correct, or would the Literary Digest correctly predict a sixth straight election.
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At the end of the day, both Gallup and the Literary Digest were wrong, though Gallup much less so.
Franklin D. Roosevelt fended off Alf Landon's attack over the "New Deal" programs to deliver one of the most one-sided beatdowns in the history of the election.
Roosevelt ended up with 60.8% of the popular vote, absolutely trouncing the Republican candidate, who ended up with just 36.54% of the vote.
Gallup's final polling numbers just before the election showed that Roosevelt was ahead by 12 points - he ended up winning by more than 24 points.
The Literary Digest continued to state that Landon would win, and they ended up being unbelievably incorrect.
Roosevelt ended up carrying 46 states, while Landon won just two.
Filed under: General Knowledge
